I know I said I was going to wait to start posting album spreadsheet updates at least until a couple of non-U.S. or UK lists were released, but I wasn't expecting there to be so many already. This initial posting contains the following lists:

Thanks, Harold! I always love seeing these, and I'd be shocked if any of the current top 7 fall out of the top 10. The remaining three spots seem up for grabs though, although I still think "I See You" will find its way into the top 10.

Spreadsheet re-attached - edited to remove albums not on any included lists so far. I had created rows for all of the current Mega-Critic top 100, and had forgotten to remove albums from that initial Drowned in Sound posting that have not appeared anywhere else yet. Sorry about that!

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Looking really good so far. I've been disappointed by lack of Run the Jewels appearances on lists so far but had forgotten it was actually a 2016 album until I found it in your spreadsheet. (December 24th) I guess it is going to fall in EOY hole like Beyonce did a few years ago. Thanks for putting so much time and effort into doing this!

Thanks for this!
I'll be curious to see how long American Dream by LCD Soundsystem can hold on to that second spot. The album got a lot of great reviews but I don't think I've seen anyone this year saying it was their best record.

SpankyRevolution wrote:Thanks for this!
I'll be curious to see how long American Dream by LCD Soundsystem can hold on to that second spot. The album got a lot of great reviews but I don't think I've seen anyone this year saying it was their best record.

SpankyRevolution wrote:Thanks for this!
I'll be curious to see how long American Dream by LCD Soundsystem can hold on to that second spot. The album got a lot of great reviews but I don't think I've seen anyone this year saying it was their best record.

Europeans sure seem to have loved that new album haha. I've had call the police and tonite on regular rotation for a while and they have been growing on me a lot so maybe I should give the album another couple of spins.

SpankyRevolution wrote:Thanks for this!
I'll be curious to see how long American Dream by LCD Soundsystem can hold on to that second spot. The album got a lot of great reviews but I don't think I've seen anyone this year saying it was their best record.

I don't think I've seen anyone saying DAMN is Kendrick's best album either though.
I actually think there is a better argument for american dream being LCD's best, as it is probably their most consistently good even if no song is as good as their previous peaks, while I don't see much for DAMN being better than both gkmc and tpab.
Still, for those reasons, I'd be more comfortable with Melodrama at #1, the one great and acclaimed album of the year that shows its author out doing herself (also it would be timely to have a woman on top)

I don't think an album needs to be an artist's best to be the album of the year. American Dream is only my third favorite LCD Soundsystem album, but it's still rivaling MASSEDUCTION as my favorite album of this year. Both Kendrick and LCD have two albums in my top 30 already...but plenty of years have nothing that high. Hell, even preferring This Is Happening to American Dream, American Dream is a much more fitting album for its year, both thematically and because it isn't facing off against MBDTF. If it only places second or third for the year, it's probably going to place right next to the other non-Sound of Silver albums, where I'd say it belongs (though This is Happening should be higher...).

I am focusing almost exclusively on sources that have been used in prior years. Newer sources are being tabled for the time being (unless they appear on the songs spreadsheet as well) and can be revisited once the lion's share of those existing sources are added.

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I note that there's not been one single mention for Brand New (one of the best reviewed albums of the year) so far in these lists as a result of what came out about Jesse Lacey's past. Understandable I guess though possibly a bit hypocritical from a music press who aren't about to delete the likes of Led Zeppelin from music history.

charliepanayi wrote:I note that there's not been one single mention for Brand New (one of the best reviewed albums of the year) so far in these lists as a result of what came out about Jesse Lacey's past. Understandable I guess though possibly a bit hypocritical from a music press who aren't about to delete the likes of Led Zeppelin from music history.

Nothing for PWR BTTM either probably for similar reasons.

Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)

charliepanayi wrote:I note that there's not been one single mention for Brand New (one of the best reviewed albums of the year) so far in these lists as a result of what came out about Jesse Lacey's past. Understandable I guess though possibly a bit hypocritical from a music press who aren't about to delete the likes of Led Zeppelin from music history.

charliepanayi wrote:I note that there's not been one single mention for Brand New (one of the best reviewed albums of the year) so far in these lists as a result of what came out about Jesse Lacey's past. Understandable I guess though possibly a bit hypocritical from a music press who aren't about to delete the likes of Led Zeppelin from music history.

Not a single mention of Jesca Hoop's Memories Are Now anywhere. That one would easily rank top 10 for me. It got very good reviews, but I never expected it to be the type of album that would do well on End of Year lists. Still, not a single placement yet?

Also interesting to see how the early good run for Wolf Alice has simply vanished. As they are now, they wouldn't likely make the AM top 3000.

Rob wrote:Not a single mention of Jesca Hoop's Memories Are Now anywhere. That one would easily rank top 10 for me. It got very good reviews, but I never expected it to be the type of album that would do well on End of Year lists. Still, not a single placement yet?

Also interesting to see how the early good run for Wolf Alice has simply vanished. As they are now, they wouldn't likely make the AM top 3000.

Re: Jesca Hoop - there were a ton of awesome, intimate, female-oriented singer/songwriter - folkish works this year that garnered a ton of positive press - but for whatever reason, the more Americana flavored works in this pool Jesca Hoop, Valerie June, Rhianna Giddens etc, seem to be the ones that have been ignored, while the more youthful, angstier offerings by the likes of Aldous Harding and Julien Baker have been the ones to get more year-end attention, which I get, as those two are a little more of this spotify driven moment, a touch more modern in their feel, though I like the first artists I mentioned better.

Wolf Alice is simply getting drowned out by the sheer number of American rags that contribute to this process. The band, like near every other decent emerging rock act these days, has no US audience. It's truly amazing to me how much UK and US tastes have diverged over the last ten years, and how completely the US's under 30 generation has completely abandoned rock n roll.

Illiniq wrote:
Re: Jesca Hoop - there were a ton of awesome, intimate, female-oriented singer/songwriter - folkish works this year that garnered a ton of positive press - but for whatever reason, the more Americana flavored works in this pool Jesca Hoop, Valerie June, Rhianna Giddens etc, seem to be the ones that have been ignored, while the more youthful, angstier offerings by the likes of Aldous Harding and Julien Baker have been the ones to get more year-end attention, which I get, as those two are a little more of this spotify driven moment, a touch more modern in their feel, though I like the first artists I mentioned better.

Yes, I also think the huge wave of female singer/ songwriter contributes to the neglect of Jesca Hoop, although the neglect is shockingly total. Laura Marling also performs worse than I expected, but at least she does show up in lists (mostly on the lower end). Personally, I felt that Jesca Hoop, although indeed not thoroughly modern or a genre reinvention, had a rare album in which all tracks are really great. Haven't heard Valerie June as of yet, but Giddens is less consistent, although that album has some awesome highs.

It'll be crazy to have The National in the top 100 artists next update. They've always been kind of a personal favorite of mine vs something that seemed universally classic, but they've chipped out quite the niche for themselves.

Man, I knew Near to the Wild Heart of Life did not get the same reception as Celebration Rock did, but I didn't think it would be so low. It's sitting at #347 right now and only one publication mentioned it so far. For what it's worth, I've been jamming a lot to this album and I feel like Japandroids isn't getting its due. Maybe it's because they were gone for too long and people forgot about the album since it came out in January?

SpankyRevolution wrote:Man, I knew Near to the Wild Heart of Life did not get the same reception as Celebration Rock did, but I didn't think it would be so low. It's sitting at #347 right now and only one publication mentioned it so far. For what it's worth, I've been jamming a lot to this album and I feel like Japandroids isn't getting its due. Maybe it's because they were gone for too long and people forgot about the album since it came out in January?

It’s really a shame. Several songs from it are on my EOY list, and I’ve been surprised by the lack of buzz.

Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this post, but I crosschecked the song list artists vs. the album list artists and found these spelling/format discrepancies (excluding typical variations for featured artists):

I wonder if Charli XCX's new album, "Pop 2" which was released on December 15th will be on any of the remaining lists for this year or if it will be on next year's lists instead. I'm sure some songs on there would have made many year end lists too.

TVFan365 wrote:I wonder if Charli XCX's new album, "Pop 2" which was released on December 15th will be on any of the remaining lists for this year or if it will be on next year's lists instead. I'm sure some songs on there would have made many year end lists too.

Probably not much. Mixtapes aren't featured much in EOY lists, I'm not sure Charli XCX is such a critical darling when it comes to albums, and if Run the Jewels this year is any indication, catching up with the late-year releases in their lists doesn't seem to be much of a priority with critics today...

Yes, the slow redemption of Arcade Fire's worst-reviewed album is one of the more surprising trends to emerge as the EOY spreadsheet takes shape. I doubt that it will climb high enough to make the top 3000 in the next update, but it certainly looks likely to end up as a bubbler.

Yes, the slow redemption of Arcade Fire's worst-reviewed album is one of the more surprising trends to emerge as the EOY spreadsheet takes shape. I doubt that it will climb high enough to make the top 3000 in the next update, but it certainly looks likely to end up as a bubbler.

71 still isn't anything impressive.

Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)

Mulholland wrote:I am perplexed as to how 50 Song Memoir is only at #81. It got such great reviews and no one seems to remember it

There are a couple albums that seemed to get phenomenal reviews yet are being forgotten. V is by far the highest Horrors album on Metacritic and it's only in the 70s on the spreadsheet...

The fact that it's 50 songs long may have something to do with it. How many critics have time to listen and probably re-listen at year end to a 50 song album? It's also hard to judge 50 songs which for most people are going to vary in quality against albums with 10 songs all high quality.

Mulholland wrote:I am perplexed as to how 50 Song Memoir is only at #81. It got such great reviews and no one seems to remember it

There are a couple albums that seemed to get phenomenal reviews yet are being forgotten. V is by far the highest Horrors album on Metacritic and it's only in the 70s on the spreadsheet...

The fact that it's 50 songs long may have something to do with it. How many critics have time to listen and probably re-listen at year end to a 50 song album? It's also hard to judge 50 songs which for most people are going to vary in quality against albums with 10 songs all high quality.

Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs was both a contemporary favorite in 1999 and long term critical favorite to present day, though we do have admittedly more of a "Now" culture than we did 20 years ago.